Baked Artichoke and Quinoa Salad with Watercress

I have yet to share a quinoa recipe even though I have been eating it quite alot recently. I made the transition from cous cous to quinoa when I realised how easy it is to make quinoa and it had slightly more flavour on its own than cous cous. I like adding any finely chopped vegetables, the occassional boiled egg and plently of lemon juice so I thought for this recipe I would stick to this ethos but make the artichokes more of the star.

I had made a dressing using olive oil, lemon, wholegrain mustard and honey but I decided to use this as a sort of marinade instead because I wanted to contrast warm artichokes with a cold salad. This worked really well but you could also use it as a dressing if you wanted!

The addition of radishes and celery were for a different crunchy texture. The carrot was for colour and the watercress was definitely for that peppery flavour which complimented the artichoke so perfectly. Once again I used canned artichokes however this would taste even better with fresh!

Serves 2 as a main salad or 4 as a side dish

4-5 Artichoke Hearts (canned, frozen or fresh)
2 cups Cooked Quinoa (approx 90g dried)
8-10 Radishes
1 Carrot
2 Celery Sticks
1/2 Lemon
Large handful of Watercress

Marinade/ Dressing:
1 tspn Honey
1/2 tspn Wholegrain Mustard
1/2 Lemon (Juice)
1 tspn Olive Oil

Slice the artichoke hearts into 4 pieced and place them on a baking tray. Mix together all of the ingredients for  the dressing and pour it onto the artichokes and then place in to the oven at 200c for 10-12 minutes untill slightly browned on top.

Slice the radishes thinly. Peel then grate the carrot. Chop the celery. Peel the lemon and then cut into segments. Roughly chop the watercress. mix in a large bowl with the quinoa and season with some black pepper and salt if you want.

Take the artichokes out of the oven and place them on to the salad then drizzle the juices from the pan over the salad and gently mix. Serve with crusty bread or as a side to a beany burger or at a BBQ!

Ps don’t forget I am currently on my honeymoon (at the moment we will be in Toronto and then on to New York on Saturday) so please don’t be offended if I do not get back to any comments or emails straight away! I love to hear all of your thoughts so am looking forward to checking online when I can 🙂 Also there will be no Friday Challenge next week but I will start with my new ingredient on the first friday of July! Can’t wait!!